Fight the Treatment Industrial Complex

AFSC-Arizona staff are amazing advocates for prisoners - and as such, are true blessings to our communities. Spend time on their site - lots of resources.

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NATIVE RESISTANCE AND THE CARCERAL STATE

Retiring Arizona Prison Watch...

This site was originally started in July 2009 as an independent endeavor to monitor conditions in Arizona's criminal justice system, as well as offer some critical analysis of the prison industrial complex from a prison abolitionist/anarchist's perspective. It was begun in the aftermath of the death of Marcia Powell, a 48 year old AZ state prisoner who was left in an outdoor cage in the desert sun for over four hours while on a 10-minute suicide watch. That was at ASPC-Perryville, in Goodyear, AZ, in May 2009.

Marcia, a seriously mentally ill woman with a meth habit sentenced to the minimum mandatory 27 months in prison for prostitution was already deemed by society as disposable. She was therefore easily ignored by numerous prison officers as she pleaded for water and relief from the sun for four hours. She was ultimately found collapsed in her own feces, with second degree burns on her body, her organs failing, and her body exceeding the 108 degrees the thermometer would record. 16 officers and staff were disciplined for her death, but no one was ever prosecuted for her homicide. Her story is here.

Marcia's death and this blog compelled me to work for the next 5 1/2 years to document and challenge the prison industrial complex in AZ, most specifically as manifested in the Arizona Department of Corrections. I corresponded with over 1,000 prisoners in that time, as well as many of their loved ones, offering all what resources I could find for fighting the AZ DOC themselves - most regarding their health or matters of personal safety.

I also began to work with the survivors of prison violence, as I often heard from the loved ones of the dead, and learned their stories. During that time I memorialized the Ghosts of Jan Brewer - state prisoners under her regime who were lost to neglect, suicide or violence - across the city's sidewalks in large chalk murals. Some of that art is here.

In November 2014 I left Phoenix abruptly to care for my family. By early 2015 I was no longer keeping up this blog site, save occasional posts about a young prisoner in solitary confinement in Arpaio's jail, Jessie B.

I'm deeply grateful to the prisoners who educated, confided in, and encouraged me throughout the years I did this work. My life has been made all the more rich and meaningful by their engagement.

I've linked to some posts about advocating for state prisoner health and safety to the right, as well as other resources for families and friends. If you are in need of additional assistance fighting the prison industrial complex in Arizona - or if you care to offer some aid to the cause - please contact the Phoenix Anarchist Black Cross at PO Box 7241 / Tempe, AZ 85281. collective@phoenixabc.org

Monday, August 18, 2014

The "execution" of Lino Flores, ASPC-EYMAN: Even supermax isn't "safe".

Another homicide at the AZ DOC, this time in the Supermax prison, ASPC-Eyman. Interestingly, according to the records below, both prisoners were both moved to their current location at
Eyman on the same date, perhaps together. Also of note - the victim was
Native American, while the killer is identified as Mexican American.
That means this crime was intensely personal and spur-of-the-moment, or
Salazar had the permission of - perhaps was under the orders of - one of the
gangs to take Flores out; otherwise this might start a race war.

How
either of these two men
were considered to be lower than MAX custody is a puzzle, since they
had both apparently killed someone in custody before. Wow, in fact, this was Flores' case. More startling, here is one of the reports about Salazar's history: it says he actually stabbed an officer in the head in 2007 - and that was apparently before he killed someone else. And he was only close custody? Yet they bury political prisoners and the mentally ill guys who have harmed no one in solitary for years...).

Inmate 156258

Last Name

First Name

Middle Initial

Birth Date

SALAZAR

JULIO

C

01/22/1982

Gender

Height (inches)

Weight

Hair Color

MALE

69

165

BLACK

Eye Color

Ethnic Origin

Custody Level

Inmate/Detainee

BROWN

MEXICAN AMERICAN

CLO

INMATE

Sentence

Admission

Prison Release Date

Max Supervision End Date

Sentence Information Below

01/23/2001

09/18/2035

Cur. Absconded

Hist. Absconded

Release Type

Most Recent Loc

-N-

--

RECEIVED FROM

EYMAN

Community Supervision Parole

Last Movement

Commitment Status

Status

04/30/2014

COMPLETE AND VERIFIED

ACTIVE

Commitment Information 2 record(s)

Commit#

Sentence County

Court Case#

Offense Date

Sentence Status

Crime

Felony Class

A01

MARICOPA

2000007153

04/29/2000

IMPOSED

MANSLAUGHTER

CL2

B01

PINAL

2007-00258

01/17/2007

IMPOSED

MURDER 1ST DEGREE

CL2

Sentence Information 2 record(s)

I don't know
why the DOC didn't have Flores in Protective Custody - he was a target,
with that sex crime conviction on his record; it looks like he murdered
his rape victim. I'd really call this one a state-assisted execution, not a "murder".

Inmate 040338

Last Name

First Name

Middle Initial

Birth Date

FLORES

LINO

09/23/1960

Gender

Height (inches)

Weight

Hair Color

MALE

67

140

BLACK

Eye Color

Ethnic Origin

Custody Level

Inmate/Detainee

BROWN

NATIVE INDIAN

MED

INMATE

Sentence

Admission

Prison Release Date

Max Supervision End Date

Sentence Information Below

11/19/1979

LIFE

Cur. Absconded

Hist. Absconded

Release Type

Most Recent Loc

-N-

--

RECEIVED FROM

EYMAN

Community Supervision Parole

Last Movement

Commitment Status

Status

04/30/2014

COMPLETE AND VERIFIED

ACTIVE

Commitment Information 5 record(s)

Commit#

Sentence County

Court Case#

Offense Date

Sentence Status

Crime

Felony Class

A01

MARICOPA

0106761

04/13/1979

IMPOSED

MURDER 2ND DEGREE

CL3

A02

MARICOPA

0106761

04/13/1979

IMPOSED

SEXUAL ASSAULT

CL3

B01

PINAL

0009748

10/15/1981

IMPOSED

DANG/DEADLY ASLT BY PRSNR

CL1

B02

PINAL

0009748

10/15/1981

IMPOSED

PRISNR POSS DEADLY WEAPON

CL4

C01

PINAL

0010992

01/03/1984

IMPOSED

MURDER 1ST DEGREE

Unfortunately, this man's death is not just "one
less bad guy off the taxpayers back" (a comment left at the end of this AZCENTRAL.COM article below by one reader). Yet another homicide in the AZ DOC
is symptomatic of the huge problem of violent gangs and thugs running
the AZ Prison system under Department of Corrections director Charles
Ryan (Jan Brewer's chief disciplinarian); even minor drug offenders are
vulnerable to being murdered over petty debts. This victim was probably
asking for some kind of protection and denied it before he was killed,
and the killer was likely given no choice but to do the deed or be
killed himself. That's the way it works in the AZ DOC, under the Mexican Mafia's rule. Better take a closer look at the recent suicides, too - they have a habit of strangling guys and leaving them hanging in the showers.

Due to the high rate of violence, medical neglect, and outright abuse of prisoners in the past 6 years, the AZ DOC has come to be known as
the most poorly-run prison system in the country; officers and prisoners alike aren't
safe in any of the state prisons, not even in Protective Custody ( where
the last two homicides occurred).

So before we celebrate this man's
murder - be it because of the seriousness of his own crimes or whatever other reason one may think it represents "justice" - think about how many lives and tax dollars are being wasted
warehousing potheads with murderers in the kind of hellhole where they
are more likely to develop a new heroin habit than get any kind of
substance abuse treatment. We should all really be asking Jan why she
still stands by her man there...

Authorities are investigating a suspected homicide at a state prison
in Florence, according to the Arizona Department of Corrections.

Prison
officials found Lino Flores unresponsive and suffering from traumatic
injuries at about 2 p.m. Saturday in his cell at the Eyman prison
complex, ADC spokesman Doug Nick said.

Paramedics pronounced
Flores, 53, dead at the scene, Nick said. Flores was serving a life
sentence for first-degree murder, second-degree murder, sexual assault,
possession of a deadly weapon and assault with a deadly weapon.